Top Story: European digital asset exchanges prepare to delist USDT in line with the implementation of MiCA regulations. Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) aims to regulate crypto-asset issuance and services that are not covered by existing regulations on financial instruments and financial products, by creating a systematic European regulatory framework. The repercussions of such harsh regulations could be multi-fold and regulations may not spur adoption but instead curb adoption!

Blockchain Start-up of the week:

BVNK: The organisation aims to bridge the gap between fiat and stable coins by providing a platform to make global payments easier and faster via it’s stablecoin payments infrastructure. They hold key partnerships with organisations such as Circle and Paypal to offer a variety of services including - 1) Sending payment in crypto 2) Receiving payment in crypto 3) Storing or Converting currencies 4) Launching own stable coin wallet. Read our elaborate take on BVNK here.

Regulations (The elephant in the room!)

Crypto 101:

What is Layer 1?

A layer 1 network is the infrastructure layer of the blockchain ecosystem. Applications, protocols and other networks can be built on Layer 1 networks. The primary characteristic of a layer 1 network is it’s consensus mechanism which we spoke about here. The consensus mechanism dictates a networks’ speed and security. Layer 1 networks will have a native token that the user can use for payment towards using the services provided by the network. Note that while Layer 1s have their own tokens, they do not necessarily provide the same services and even when they do provide similar services, some may prioritize speed and others may prioritize security (possibly delegating speed to Layer 2’s). If you are building decentralized applications, an appropriate practice would be to analyze the offerings of different Layer 1’s and build on a network that best fits your requirements. Moreover, with more emphasis on interoperability in recent times, building on one chain and scaling it across chains should be much smoother going forward! More on “interoperability” in future editions.

As you may already know, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Hedera are all examples of Layer 1 networks.

Local Spotlight: Berkeley and Bay Area Scene

Upcoming Events:

Jan 1: Tokenisation of RWA (Eventbrite)

Jan 15: Blockchain and Business Networking (Link)

Reading suggestion: 1984 by George Orwell

Opportunities in Blockchain:

Full-Time roles:

a. Partner Engineer at Near Foundation (Link)

b. Compliance Associate at Paxos (Link)

c. Head of Ecosystem Growth at World (Link)

d. Technical Product Manager - Web3 Wallet solution provider (Link)

e. Partner Success Manager at Aptos Labs (Link)

f. Dir, Digital Currency, Blockchain, MLRO at Paypal (Link)

g. Director of Counterparty Risk Management at Bitgo (Link)

Funding rounds:

a. Real world assets focused firm, Plume, raised $20 million Series A round from Brevan Howard, Haun Ventures, Galaxy Ventures and others, ahead of it’s mainnet launch.

b. BVNK raised $50 million at a $750 million valuation as stablecoins receive approval or disapproval from the broader markets. Haun Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global participated.

c. Superform receives $3 million is strategic funding. The investment was led by VanEck Ventures and is to be used for building on-chain high yield products.

Stay Connected.

Twitter: @cesium77

Telegram: @karan_curry, @riadokania

Email: [email protected] , [email protected]

Fun Fact: The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart was posted by reddit user ‘azop’ to show folks how Bitcoin prices were ranging within the bands of an author-created rainbow. Read more about it here! Interestingly as per the rainbow band the $100k price of BTC was inevitable and if we were to go by the original model, there would be upside even after $100k 😉